The Long Mission
by Cybertronprincess
Summary: While searching Baba Yaga's castle for survivors, after Asura's defeat, Justin happens upon something very strange. Shinigami-sama just happens to make that something his charge. ... Summaries... bleh! Okay; fluff, Giriko/Justin, Soul/Maka, Crona/Kid and possibly more. R&R pretty please! Ratings may change.


"So then, you said you had something important to show us?" Shinigami-sama asked cheerfully.

Justin nodded slowly, his ear phones out and dangling by his collar bones for once. "It may come as a bit of a surprise, great one, so..."

"Don't worry; if it's important, we'll deal with it." Death Scythe assured him, hands in his pockets, smiling confidently. Justin glanced at him, then his daughter and her weapon, then Shinigami, and then his son and the Thompson sisters.

"Alright... you can come out now." He said softly.

From under his robes, and child poked his head out from behind him, glancing up at Justin. He had blandly tanned skin and scruffy brown hair, clumps of it styled upwards into three blade shaped spikes. His eyes were huge and round, the irises a soft brown colour. Oddly, he had quite a few piercings on his face, even over his nose. Most notably, he was wearing big, brown enchanter's gloves.

The child took one look at everyone else in the room, then stuck his tongue out and hid back under Justin's robe.

"Is that..." Maka's jaw was hanging open in disbelief, her weapon looking just as gob-smacked as she did.

"Y-yes... it's Giriko." Justin nodded with a sigh.

"Did you find him like this?" Shinigami asked, not looking or sounding as surprised as Justin expected. Death Scythe and Death the Kid moved, crouching on either side of Justin to get a better look.

"I did, sir. Arachne was getting tired of him acting childish, so decided to actually turn him into a child in order to teach him a lesson." The priest explained, bowing his head. "Then the Kishin Asura ate her soul."

"He can't change back..." Maka gaped. Justin nodded, then jolted as young Giriko dove out in front of him, flat on his stomach.

"Father, make that one stop poking me!" He whined, clinging to Justin's shins, pointing accusingly at Death the Kid.

"Quite a temperamental child." Kid muttered, shifting so he could get a better look once again.

"Oh, you weren't much better, Kiddo!" Shinigami chuckled, making his son frown and glare daggers at him. "Now Justin, what exactly did you expect would happen if you brought him here?" The reaper asked, leaning down to be at eye level with his follower. Justin looked at the floor just beyond Giriko, running his fingers through the child's hair.

"I... I don't know. But I couldn't just leave him there! Whether he's an 800 year old villain or not; he's stuck in a child's body."

"And he's _sooooo_ cute!" Patty squealed, suddenly squatting in front of Giriko with her sister, who seemed to have the same sentiment.

"Hey there lil' guy!" Liz cooed, offering him her hand. Giriko blinked his big brown eyes at her, then timidly placed his hand in hers. The glove made his paw seem a lot bigger than it was, as always, and seemed to emphasise just how small Arachne's spell had made him. "You hungry?" Giriko nodded once, still hanging onto Justin's robe with the other hand. "Want to go and get some sweets?" Liz smiled. "They have plenty in the school canteen!"

"Um..." He looked up at Justin, as though seeking permission.

"Uh... please don't let him out of your sight; he's still quite the troublesome boy." The priest smiled nervously, patting Giriko's head. The child pouted, folding his little arms over his chest.

"'M not!" He huffed, the scrambled into Liz, who lifted him off the ground, carrying him towards the door.

"Maka-chan, do wanna come too?" Patty asked, ever the peppy one. "You missed lunch, didn't you?"

Maka was just about to decline the offer, when her stomach gave a loud rumble. She blushed, looking over to Soul. He gave her a toothy, playful grin, then slapped her on the back. "Go ahead. I'll report in and meet you at the canteen." She then nodded stiffly, shuffling after the Thompson sisters and mini Giriko.

"Justin..." Death Scythe addressed him once his daughter and the others were gone.

"I know, I know..." The blonde cast his head down, when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He glanced over, seeing Kid smiling sympathetically at him.

"Don't worry, I would've done the same thing in your place. Evil or not, he's a child now." The ebony haired boy nodded. Justin smiled nervously.

"Even more so than usual." He chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck. He looked up to Shinigami, who was looking at Soul.

"You said you and Maka had something to report?" He asked. The grey haired boy nodded.

"Yeah, but now that I look at what happened to Giriko, it makes a lot more sense." He shrugged.

"Go on..."

"Well, after we defeated Asura, Maka said she still sensed Arachne, but in a weird way. Like, she was there... but she wasn't." He tried to explain the way his Meister had, but it only proved to confuse his superiors as much as it had him. "Wh-what I think she meant was that she could sense Arachne's magic in Giriko! Sort of like her last mark in the world..."

"Her last mark..." Death Scythe said darkly. "Of course, we all know how the Gorgon sisters like to leave their 'mark'." There was a grave silence in the Death Room, no pun intended.

"You mean..." Justin's ocean blue eyes widened.

"Justin, we may have to consider the possibility of Arachne... somehow using little Giriko-chan's body as a way to stay alive, as her sister did to little Rachel-chan. But more directly." Shinigami stated calmly, placing a cartoon-like hand on Justin's shoulder. The blonde hung his head.

"In that case... what do we do with him?" He asked. "We don't know for sure! For all we know, it might just be the effect of the spell that Maka-san was sensing!"

Shinigami and Death Scythe glanced to each other. Soul and Kid glanced to each other.

"Perhaps... we should have Stein look him over," Death Scythe finally suggested, rubbing his neck tiredly.

"Perhaps we should. But we shouldn't bother him now; he's still recovering from the little Medusa epidemic." Shinigami point out. He looked down at Justin. "'Til then, I am trusting _you_ to be Giriko-chan's guardian, is that understood?" Justin's face lit up like the sunshine.

"Of-of course, Shinigami-sama! I would be glad to!" He exclaimed, as if praising to his God.

"If anything suspicious begins to occur, you are to report it at once. Do you understand, Justin-kun?"

.

Soul pushed the bar down in order to open the door to the canteen, leaning against it to hold it open for his companions. "After you." He smiled. Kid and Justin both smiled back walking passed.

As soon as they entered the food hall, they were met by the sight of just about every female student grouped around one table in the corner of the room, the boys in the area either looking frustrated or depressed.

"Hey," Soul addressed Ox, who had his head flat on a table surface. "What's going on?" All he got in response was Ox jabbing his in the direction of the gaggle of girls, all squealing, giggling and cooing over whatever it was at the table. The three boys managed to push through the crowd, reaching the table. Kid was immediately enveloped in a death grip of a hug by a panicking Crona, as well as being bopped over the head by an angry Ragnarok.

"Kiddo-kun! I don't know how to deal with such a big crowd!" Crona wailed, burying his face in Kid's chest. The Shinigami boy petted his lover's head comfortingly, trying to ignore the searing pain delivered to his head.

"What's going on, Ragnarok?" Soul asked.

"Dunno, all these bimbos seem to think that little brat is cute! It's like Crona's first day all over again!" They looked over at the table; Maka was hunched up in her chair, hiding in a book as best she could. When she noticed the boys standing there, she looked up at them pleadingly.

Justin's face suddenly went into blank irritation; there was Giriko, sitting happily in Liz's lap, literally being spoon-fed cake, pudding and ice cream by Patty, looking very much pleased with himself.

"He's just so adorable!" Kim suddenly appeared beside them, the other girls sqeeing in agreement.

"I just wanna pinch his cheeks!"

"Who's kid is he anyway?"

Justin's lips squeezed together tighter and tighter. He then pushed his way to the opposite side of the table, looking down at little Giriko with his arms folded.

The child chainsaw suddenly squeaked, looking down at his dangling feet like he was guilty.

"I'm sorry ladies, this is my... little brother, Giriko." He stated loudly, so everyone would hear him. Giriko looked up, a puzzled expression on his face.

"Sorry Justin-kun; he said he wanted more sweets, so they just kept bringing them to him." Liz explained, a sweatdrop rolling down the back of her head. Patty giggled, giving Giriko another spoonful of strawberry pudding.

"I see..." Justin said, expression unreadable. Liz began feeling nervous; was he angry? Upset? She couldn't tell! "Please excuse my intrusion, but my brother and I must be heading home." He sighed.

"Aw!" Giriko and the crowd whined. Justin just held up his hand, silencing any further protests.

"Come along, Giriko." The little chainsaw blinked at him.

"So does this mean I get to live with you for a while?" He asked, eyes and smile shining hopefully. Justin nodded once. "Yahoo!" He cheered, then slipped out of Liz's grasp and crawled under the table, grabbing onto Justin's leg.

"Does he not live with you normally, Justin-sama?" Jackie asked curiously. Justin winced.

"It's... complicated." He shrugged. He then bent down, hauling Giriko up and over, in order to seat him on his shoulders. The child settled there quite happily, resting his chin on the blonde's white cap. "Good day to you ladies, and gentlemen." He nodded to Soul and Kid, who nodded back, then began making his way out of the food hall.

"Bye bye Giriko-chan!" The girls called after them. Giriko straightened up, twisting slightly to see them, then lifted up a hand and gave an exaggerated wave that made it hard for Justin to keep his balance.

"Bye bye!" He shouted back, making the female students, and even some of the female staff present go 'Aw! Isn't he sweet?'.

Justin scurried that little bit faster out of the canteen, down the hall and through the main doors of the DWMA, onto the long, ebony staircase.

"That was twisted, and you know it!" He snapped. Giriko grinned from atop his head.

"Got a lot of cute girls to give me attention, and free sweets too!" He giggled, kicking his feet individually.

"You're still so lecherous, for a child." Justin muttered. Giriko just reached down, poking the blonde's nose playfully.

"So, I'm living with you now?"

"Yes, at least until we find a way to fix you."

"Kay..." Giriko placed his hands on Justin's head, so his finger tips were pressing together, then rested his chin on top. "Can we get something to eat?"

"Didn't you have enough sweets?"

"Nuh-uh! Still hungry!" He insisted. Justin sighed, shifting Giriko up a bit.

"I'll cook something when we get to my place." He replied. "Do you like fish and chips?"

"Yeah! And can I have cherry soda with it?"

"I suppose..." It then dawned on the death scythe that he didn't actually have a spare room for Giriko to sleep in! "This... is going to be a long mission."


End file.
